The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here!

[SaratogaJJ]

So, yes, a few weeks ago our new phone book showed up - actually, two of them, because inexplicably, someone thought that 'competition' in the phone book business would be good for the end user/consumer. To me, it just means more clutter, and I haven't figured out how to 'opt out' of getting a phone book.

Anyway, so I'm looking at the old phone books, as I'm dropping them in our recycling bin, and I'm thinking that they are essentially newspaper, bound into a softcover book form, right? If you ripped off the glossy cover, and took what was left, it'd basically be sort of like burning a brick made out of newsprint.

What does anyone think about this? If you had a pretty good bed of coals or a decent fire going, tossing in the phone book? Ours is pretty thick - figure maybe slightly over two inches thick.

Good idea? Bad idea? Don't quit my day job?

 

[Jags]

Don't quit your day job. Them things burn kinda nasty and not very well. It requires several "stirrings" to keep them burning.

Now if you used it as a tablet of handy fire starter paper, now you might be on to something.

 

[BrotherBart]

"Phone book" is some foreign word for "smoldering mess".

 

[CowboyAndy]

reminds me of the time my wife got frustrated trying to get a fire going, ran out of newspaper and tried to use our daughters coloring book (not colored in yet). She started with a few pages, then thought it would work better if she put the whole thing in...


aye...

 

[karri0n]

There's better uses. You can make a fastener out of two of them that can hold up several tons by simply layering the pages together. I'll see if I can find a diagram. See the pic below. Just drill a couple holes close to the binding, and attach whatever you want. Mythbusters had 2 cars pulling on these things before it broke. It's basically indestructible.

 

[SaratogaJJ]

All right, then. Back to the drawing board. It was just an idle thought. I'm perfectly happy recycling them; I was just wondering if there might be another productive use for them, so I decided to ask the experts. Thanks!

I did see that Mythbusters episode with the phone books - incredible how strong they were. I think they actually held two cars pulling in opposite directions, if memory serves.

 

[Dill]

Does anyone under the age of 50 use a phone book anymore? I can't remeber the last time I opened one.
On top of that, I find them in the spring when the snowbanks they are so carefully tossed in melt.

 

[CowboyAndy]

Does anyone under the age of 50 use a phone book anymore? I can't remeber the last time I opened one.
On top of that, I find them in the spring when the snowbanks they are so carefully tossed in melt.

We currently don't have internet at home, so I use one on a semi regular basis...

and I am only 28.

 

[madrone]

The cars couldn't do it, they used tanks. They also showed how to tear a phone book in half, which is a much cooler use for one than a smoldering smoky mess.